2017 Runner Up in National HUD Competition

2017 Runner Up in National HUD Competition

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a graduate student team from Taubman College as the runner up and winner of a $10,000 award for HUD’s fourth annual Innovation in Affordable Housing (IAH) Student Design and Planning Competition.

The Taubman College team, Bader Bajaber (MUP), Emily Burrowes (MUP), Laura Devine (M.Arch), Melissa Bloem (MUP and MSW), and Prashanth Raju (MUP and MUD) with faculty adviser Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Lan Deng, was judged runner-up for its plans to create a family-centered sustainable community that prioritized social services, connected residents to health care resources, and built economic partnerships with local organizations.

The other finalists consisted of student teams from Yale University, a joint submission from New York University and Columbia University, and a team from Rutgers University who won first place.

The students presented their final proposals to a jury of practitioners and a live audience at HUD’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. on April 18, 2017. Watch a full webcast of the event here.

By initiating and funding this competition, HUD hopes to inspire and support aspiring members of fields such as architecture, planning, policy, and finance in advancing affordable and sustainable housing for low- and moderate-income Americans.